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The goal in starting a direct sales company is the same for each and every entrepreneur, which is to build a profitable business that earns a regular income. How to accomplish this can be confusing, especially with the large number of direct sales opportunities available to you. The way to choose the best direct sales opportunity is not unlike purchasing a car or home. You must study the information that is relevant to your personal goals and make informed decisions. If you simply choose a product and/or company without first researching the company itself and the products it sells, you could end up disappointed and unable to move forward with your plans. Before you make your decision as to which direct sales opportunity is right for you, ask yourself a few key questions:

What do you think of the products the company offers? The products you offer must sell well in the present, but continue to sell in the future as well. The price range of the products is also important. You need to make sure the products you sell are affordable enough to use on a regular basis.

Consider how often the products will need to be reordered. You will want to ensure that you have repeat customers on a very regular basis. Also consider the commission or other money that you will earn for your efforts. What is it that you will be required to do or achieve before you will get your commission or bonus? Also, is there a yearly fee for your membership and if so, how much is it?

How will you advertise your direct sales company and how much will it cost? Many companies will give you a web site that you can promote as you see fit while others are not internet friendly. You need to make sure you are free to use the company name and logo in your advertising campaigns and that your advertising plans are in sync with what the company has in mind. Talk with those who are already selling the products and collect all the information you can to help you make an informed decision.

Determine how much money you want to invest. You will be the business owner, even if you purchase products from another company with the intent of reselling them. You will be solely responsible for your success or failure. Success will come a lot easier for you if you set your budget in the beginning and stick to it. You should only invest the amount of money you are willing to lose. With every business there is a chance of failure, the reasons for which may be due to many different factors.

You will have to be available for meetings, training, and other functions. As a business owner, you will benefit from networking with other business owners. Check into what the company in question offers as far as seminars, training sessions, and product releases.

The most important thing for you to keep in mind is that direct sales will require hard work and determination. You will not be able to simply join one company or another and expect that the products will sell themselves. You will have busy times and slow times and you must be prepared financially for the slow times. Basically, if you are happy with the products you sell and are willing to put forth the effort; you will succeed in starting and profiting from a direct sales company.

Some people in sales think a lead is a name from a list. That’s not correct. A name from a list is not a lead–it’s a suspect, a total stranger and it does not matter if they meet some criteria (e.g. age, occupation, net worth). A true lead meets your criteria and has expressed interest in what you offer. Specifically, the lead has responded to an email, a print ad, a piece of direct mail, etc.  A true marketer and sales professional only contacts people that have first expressed interest.

Now that you have a lead, how do you turn it into a sale?

You don’t call the lead and say, “I’m following up…..” every sales person says this and the phrase has now become synonymous with “get ready for my sales pitch.”  Your lead automatically gets defensive (no one likes to be sold) and your chance of a sale is close to zero. Rather, call the lead and say “Bob, you returned a card expressing your interest in having more…..better…(fill in the blank), is that still of interest to you?” The only words that should come out of your mouth are the benefits your lead desires. Your first task is to engage your lead, not to talk about your product.

Next, you don’t say “we have” or “my company offers” as these phrases are synonymous with “get ready for my pitch.” Again, these will make your lead defensive. You do say, “I don’t know if I can help you…may I ask you a few questions about your (business/heath/investments, fill in the blank)?” You disarm the defensiveness of the prospect by stating you don’t know if you can help.

Next, you ask intelligent questions about what’s important to him. The best thing you can do here is forget about the features and benefits of your product because your lead does not care. He cares only about what’s important to him. So to really listen, you need to forget your spiel. As your prospect reveals answers to your questions, you ask deeper questions to reveal their emotional desires. Questions like:

Why is that important to you?
If you could have that, how would it impact you?
If you don’t solve that, what’s the long term cost to you?
How does that make you feel?
Are you satisfied with that?

Since people buy emotionally, you must get them to reveal what motivates them emotionally. Until you do, do not proceed to your next step (to set an appointment, ask for the credit card, close the deal) as you will fail. Too many sellers ask for the order too early and they get objections. First, get your prospect to reveal what motivates him emotionally and then you ask if he would be interested in a solution to that problem/opportunity. Only when he says yes, do you proceed to the next step.

“Bob, if there were a solution to that problem, what would that be worth to you? So if you could have the solution for only 10% of that amount, you would want to know about it? Great, then (set an appointment, ask for the credit card, close the deal).”

I know that sellers tell me they are client focused or customer focused but it’s not true. They are product focused and my-agenda focused. If your personal mission or company mission is to really help someone, then it becomes easy to turn leads into sales. Because your objective changes from “getting” people to buy your product to “finding” people who want what your product offers. You can only determine that by asking questions. And when you encounter someone that does not have an interest in your product, you move on.

The key to turning a lead into a sale is to leave your agenda to the end of the conversation and get your lead to reveal his emotional agenda first. Then you have the relatively simple process of showing your prospect how your product fits his agenda (rather than convincing the prospect why they should have interest in your agenda).